While walking one of the trails through the rainforest one of our guides spotted this rhinoceros viper (Bitis nasicornis) lying hidden amongst the undergrowth right beside the trail. These snakes rely on their extraordinary camouflage for hunting, their strategy is to lie completely motionless and wait for a rodent or other small animal to come past and then strike. It is also part of their defence against any possible predators that might try and have a go at them, the obvious downside to being almost invisible is it leaves them vulnerable to being stepped on by mistake.

If you get too close to one they will generally give a warning hiss to reveal their presence, if you don't then back off, they may strike. If it doesn't hiss or you've already stepped too close you could be in trouble. These snakes are highly venomous so our guides weren't too happy when I got a little closer to take some photos, however I was confident that if I didn't push my luck the snake would not react at all. They are pretty placid animals if you don't provoke them, even so I certainly had no intention of getting within striking range.

Had one of the guides not spotted the snake we would have walked right beside it, needless to say our guides didn't think that was a good idea, so after I'd finished taking photos we turned around and walked a different way.